The present invention concerns a trolley handling device for guiding at least one trolley into and out of a trolley stowage, a trolley cabinet and a transportation means or transportation vehicle, each having such a trolley handling device, as well as a method of guiding a trolley into and out of a trolley stowage with such a trolley handling device.
In means or vehicles of transportation, such as modern aircraft or trains, trolleys are employed for carrying supplies, e.g., meals, medical equipment or products for sale for the passengers or other items required by the staff on board the transportation means. In aircraft, for example, these trolleys can be stowed in trolley cabinets of aircraft galleys which are, inter alia, located next to the aircraft doors and adjacent to a passageway of the aircraft and an aisle in an entrance area of the aircraft. Such trolley cabinets are, for example, described in documents EP 2 848 531 A1, DE 10 2006 023 047 A1 and US 2008/0001031 A1. Conventional trolley cabinets comprise a plurality of partition walls, wherein, in a lower portion of the trolley cabinet, trolleys can be stowed next to each other by rolling them on the floor of a compartment of the transportation means into the stowage and securing the trolley by a conventional latch against escaping from the trolley stowage, particularly, during taxi, take-off, landing or in the event of turbulences during the flight.
A further conventional aircraft galley is shown in FIG. 1. The aircraft galley comprises two aircraft cabinets 10, 12 arranged next to and on opposite sides of an aircraft door. In cabinet 10, three equally sized trolleys are stowed behind doors 22, 24, 26 in stowages delimited by lateral and internal cabinet walls. In order to stow away the central one of the three trolleys, door 24 is opened towards the aisle or passage way of the aircraft, and the central trolley is rolled into the open trolley stowage. To secure the trolley against rolling back out of the trolley stowage and into the aisle of the aircraft, a latch (not shown) adapted for holding the trolley is closed, whereafter also the door 24 is closed. Thus, when the three trolleys are stored in the stowage spaces of the cabinet 10, the lateral and internal walls of the trolley cabinet, respectively, secure the trolleys against displacement in the X-direction of the aircraft (i.e., the longitudinal direction of the aircraft), and the latches respectively associated with each of the trolleys as well as the sidewall of the aircraft prevent the trolleys from escaping from the trolley cabinet in the Y-direction (i.e., transversal direction of the aircraft). In the trolley cabinet 12, further trolleys are stowed perpendicularly relative to the aforementioned three trolleys and accessed over an entrance area adjacent to the aircraft door. This cabinet comprises an extra space 80 which is typically not used for trolleys.